Quote:
Originally Posted by Perna
Hi, pinkpony. I don't know how old you are or if you live with your parents, go to school or have a job or what your circumstances are. I don't know if your parents give you money and you pay your therapist or if they and your therapist made an arrangement about the cost?
If it is helping you, that is what both you and your parents want; I would keep with what is working. I would let your parents know, in no uncertain terms, that it is helping you and I would try to verbalize for them, a few examples of how it is helping you.
I presume your therapist knows whether you are paying the bills or your parents are helping you pay the bills? I know how squeamish talking to one's therapist is about money but maybe you can approach it along the lines of your actual problem, which is how you feel about your parents difficulties paying? It is possible the therapist could offer a lower rate and/or suggest that fewer sessions a week would be okay for you or could give an idea of how much longer at this many sessions might help you, etc. Wrap your head around the idea that it's all "information" you are looking for, and semi-pretend it doesn't have anything to do with you, personally (other than it might, in fact, be a good idea to talk about how you feel about your parent's and your predicament, where you need help and they are paying). Remember that the therapist has probably had a lot of different scenarios and clients with different money situations so will be rather matter-of-fact discussing it with you which might make it more comfortable for you too.
I went twice a week in a back-to-back session (100 minutes all together) which was very helpful to me. Maybe you would like to experiment with different modes and see if one worked as well as what you're doing now? It's very nice to have a "chunk" of time to work in instead of having it split up, for me at least. If you see your therapist 5 times a week, ask if you can see them in two, two-session-at-a-time sessions (which would get you down to 4 times a week).
It's very individual how often one sees the therapist and depends on your time, the therapists time and orientation (if you are in psychoanalysis, it probably should stay 3-5 times a week but your therapist should/have explain/ed that to you and why you are seeing them so often.
I would be a chicken  and approach talking to my therapist by saying something like, "My parents are having a bit of difficulty with the amount of money they are helping me with by paying for my therapy." Then I'd ask about whether there's a chance of reduced fees or a different way to set up the hours so they're as productive but fewer hours, etc.
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Hi Perna! Thanks so much for your reply! My parents are the ones who pay, they give me money and I make the payments. I'm not sure what type of therapy I'm in! She explained it on the first day but I wasn't paying much attention!(nervousness!). I actually was quite upset that my parents had brought up money(past experiences, i feel like they never clearly tell me how much they can afford to spend on me. whenever they bring up the topic whether its for school, doctors, etc. they initially always tell me everythings fine, then as soon as i start feeling a bit better and more comfortable they bring up money and leave me feeling v.guilty and so i end up quitting whatever i was doing). I was considering bringing it up in therapy tomorrow (cause it had upset me so much) but i just cant bring it up in therapy, not this time, cause it has something to do with my therapist and im not comfortable talking to her about it at all. not sure what to do. she's probably gonna notice im upset. i'm just afraid that if i bring it up (i dont know how to do it in a jokey way- my style is a very defensive one) it'll offend her. I was also thinking of approaching it along the lines that you suggested (the guilt i feel at my parents having to pay more than they can afford), but she'll see right through it. I feel so bad

Not sure what to do

...maybe i'll just ask her if I can reduce to two sessions/week without giving any explanations.